New York Yankees' Aaron Judge, left, greets Anthony Rizzo at the plate after Rizzo's two-run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the fifth inning of a baseball game Saturday, April 6, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/John Munson)John Munson/The Associated Press
Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo homered, and the New York Yankees chased Kevin Gausman in the second inning of an 9-8 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night.
Judge and Stanton went deep in a three-run first against Gausman (0-1), and Rizzo added his first of the season in the fifth against Mitch White. Juan Soto had a pair of RBI singles as the Yankees opened a 9-2 lead by the sixth inning and Stanton had three hits after starting the season 3 for 24.
Luke Weaver (3-0) allowed three runs over two innings and became the major leagues’ first three-game winner despite totalling only 5 2/3 innings over three outings.
Before a loud crowd of 42,250 on a rare Saturday night game in the Bronx, New York boosted its record to 7-2 and improved to 32-4 when Judge and Stanton homer in the same game, including the post-season.
With Toronto trailing by seven runs, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered off Weaver leading off a three-run seventh. He pointed to a crowd that had booed him, took a hop near shortstop and put a finger to his lips when rounding third.
After the Blue Jays closed to 9-6, Clay Holmes got two outs for his fourth save, allowing Alejandro Kirk’s RBI grounder and pinch-hitter Cavan Biggio’s run-scoring single before striking out George Springer.
Gausman’s four-seam fastball averaged 91.4 mph, down from 94.7 mph in his first start. He allowed six runs, five earned, and two walks in 1 1/3 innings, his shortest outing since May 2019. Gausman had had not allowed a run in previous 20 innings at Yankee Stadium.
After Soto overcame an 0-2 count to walk, Judge pulled an 0-2 inside splitter to left-centre for his second home run of the season. The home run was his fourth off Gausman, tied for his most against any pitcher with Marcus Stroman, Tyler Wells and Taijuan Walker.
One out later, Stanton lined a first-pitch fastball to right, where it hit the top of the wall and then a fan’s glove – which was behind the fence. The home-run call was upheld in a video review.
New York opened a 6-0 lead in the second after what appeared to be an Anthony Volpe strikeout leading off was turned by a video review into a catcher interference call against Brian Serven. Gleyber Torres hit a sacrifice fly – missing a grand slam by a few feet – Serven had a run-scoring passed ball and Soto an RBI single.
Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt gave up two runs in 4 1/3 innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: RHP Alek Manoah (right shoulder inflammation) is to throw about 65 pitches in a game Sunday at Dunedin, Florida. … P Erik Swanson, on the IL since March 25 with right forearm inflammation, will follow Manoah to the mound in that game.
Yankees: RHP Jonathan Loáisiga said he needs season-ending elbow surgery to repair a torn ACL and will be sidelined for 10 to 12 months.
UP NEXT
Yankees RHP Luis Gil (0-0, 1.93 ERA) faces Blue Jays RHP Bowden Francis (0-1, 11.81) in Sunday’s series finale.